WRDSB BACKYARD BUG BLITZ 2020

The BUGBLITZ has finished up for this year !

On behalf of the Outdoor and Environmental Education Department of the Waterloo Region District School Board, thank-you for your participation in the first ever Backyard Bug Blitz! Your submission was one of over 720 insect and invertebrate lists that were compiled by students, teachers and families. Participants in the Bug Blitz saw over 100 species! What an amazing effort! We learned a lot and had a great time, we certainly hope you did as well.

We encourage you to continue with your enthusiasm for citizen science, and we hope that you have found a hobby that you can enjoy for the rest of your life.

As David Attenborough said, “It seems to me that the natural world is the greatest source of excitement; the greatest source of visual beauty, the greatest source of intellectual interest. It is the greatest source of so much in life that makes life worth living.”

Thank-you.

Results:

The BIG numbers!

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The Top Ten!

Overall:

Who: Over 720 Checklists were submitted by students, staff and families.What: Over 100 species of insect and invertebrate were observed. The most frequently observed species were Ants!Where: Most of our observations were in suburban backyards but we found bugs EVERYWHERE!When: Everyone shared checklists all week long and we saw lots of great pictures on social media.How: While most participants looked around with their eyes, lots also turned over logs, dug in the dirt and tried advanced techniques like using a drop cloth!

See the data on our Results page. If your a teacher and want to have the data for some fun math activities please contact one of the OEE staff.

Resources:

While the count is over for this year the resources are here for your use whenever you might need them. We will continue to check the ‘Share a bug’ feature, we are happy to help young entomologists at any time of year!